[article]
Titre : |
Hierarchical structure and search in complex organizations |
Type de document : |
texte imprimé |
Auteurs : |
Jürgen Mihm, Auteur ; Christoph H. Loch, Auteur ; Dennis Wilkinson, Auteur |
Année de publication : |
2010 |
Article en page(s) : |
pp. 831-848 |
Note générale : |
Management |
Langues : |
Anglais (eng) |
Mots-clés : |
Search Complexity Oscillations Coordination Decentralized problem solving Hierarchy |
Index. décimale : |
658 Organisation des entreprises. Techniques du commerce |
Résumé : |
Organizations engage in search whenever they perform nonroutine tasks, such as the definition and validation of a new strategy, the acquisition of new capabilities, or new product development. Previous work on search and organizational hierarchy has discovered that a hierarchy with a central decision maker at the top can speed up problem solving, but possibly at the cost of solution quality compared with results of a decentralized search. Our study uses a formal model and simulations to explore the effect of an organizational hierarchy on solution stability, solution quality, and search speed. Three insights arise on how a hierarchy can improve organizational search: (1) assigning a lead function that “anchors” a solution speeds up problem solving; (2) local solution choice should be delegated to the lowest level; and (3) structure matters little at the middle management level, but it matters at the front line; front-line groups should be kept small. These results highlight the importance for every organization of adapting its hierarchical structure to its search requirements. |
DEWEY : |
658 |
ISSN : |
0025-1909 |
En ligne : |
http://mansci.journal.informs.org/content/56/5.toc |
in Management science > Vol. 56 N° 5 (Mai 2010) . - pp. 831-848
[article] Hierarchical structure and search in complex organizations [texte imprimé] / Jürgen Mihm, Auteur ; Christoph H. Loch, Auteur ; Dennis Wilkinson, Auteur . - 2010 . - pp. 831-848. Management Langues : Anglais ( eng) in Management science > Vol. 56 N° 5 (Mai 2010) . - pp. 831-848
Mots-clés : |
Search Complexity Oscillations Coordination Decentralized problem solving Hierarchy |
Index. décimale : |
658 Organisation des entreprises. Techniques du commerce |
Résumé : |
Organizations engage in search whenever they perform nonroutine tasks, such as the definition and validation of a new strategy, the acquisition of new capabilities, or new product development. Previous work on search and organizational hierarchy has discovered that a hierarchy with a central decision maker at the top can speed up problem solving, but possibly at the cost of solution quality compared with results of a decentralized search. Our study uses a formal model and simulations to explore the effect of an organizational hierarchy on solution stability, solution quality, and search speed. Three insights arise on how a hierarchy can improve organizational search: (1) assigning a lead function that “anchors” a solution speeds up problem solving; (2) local solution choice should be delegated to the lowest level; and (3) structure matters little at the middle management level, but it matters at the front line; front-line groups should be kept small. These results highlight the importance for every organization of adapting its hierarchical structure to its search requirements. |
DEWEY : |
658 |
ISSN : |
0025-1909 |
En ligne : |
http://mansci.journal.informs.org/content/56/5.toc |
|